PHILADELPHIA, PA – Patrick Kane scored 4:06 into overtime to propel the Chicago Blackhawks to a 4-3 win over the Philadelphia Flyers and sent all of Chicago into a frenzy. The win gives the Hawks the Stanley Cup, something they haven’t done since 1961. Kane broke down the left wing and shot the puck to the left of Flyers goalie Michael Leighton to end the game and end the longest drought by a current NHL franchise. The Hawks came out strong and had 17 of the games’ first 20 shots on goal. Despite the Hawks domination and a 1-0 lead, the Flyers did what they had done all playoff season long which is come back from dire circumstances. Scott Hartnell and Daniel Briere scored to give the Flyers a 2-1 lead 8 minutes into the second period, but Leighton let up the first of many bad goals on the night, this time from former Flyers Patrick Sharp who spun around and shot the puck between Leighton’s legs to tie the game up at 2-2 almost two minutes after Briere’s goal. Andrew Ladd tipped in a shot from the point to give the Hawks a 3-2 lead with 2:17 left in the second period. The goal seemed to have awakened the Flyers from their slumber and came at Chicago the rest of the night with relentless pressure.
Finally, with 3:39 left in the game, Hartnell struck again by deflecting a pass while in front of the Hawks net to tie the game at three. The game went to overtime setting up Kane’s heroics.
Kane, who could have been drafted by the Flyers, but the Hawks won the draft lottery over the Flyers who had the league’s worst record in 2006-07. The twist of fate couldn’t have worked out better for Chicago who had the longest odds of winning the lottery that year, and it couldn’t have worked out worse for the orange and black.
“They’re a really good team,” said Kane. “They’re very well coached. A lot of offense, a ton of offense. That was probably the best we’ve seen all year where they had three really good lines that were pretty scary. So I think we’re pretty fortunate to come away with winning this series. But it’s been a hell of a year for us. We just had to end it on this note.“
The drought also ended for Hawks head coach Joel Quenneville who had the most wins without winning the Stanley Cup heading into the series.
“Well, I know that when you get to this stage and everybody is wondering about those kind of things and we try to part that and not be a part of the conversation, it can be distracting. But when you look at the chance to win the Cup and you have a couple of extra days in between days and it seems like the clock doesn’t move and it’s so far away, game day today seemed like forever to get to the game. Now all of a sudden you’re three minutes away from winning the Cup and all of a sudden they score. The guys just had a great approach in the locker room after the third. Very diligently went about our business in the overtime.”
And business is good in Chi-town.
Contact the author at Brian.Jennings@prohockeynews.com
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